Engine



3 SIfAeets-Sheet 1 ENGINE A. J. MEYER Filed mm), 30. 1958 A ril '15, 1941.

INVENTQR. 6 0a)? f Weyer ATTQRNEY.

April 15, 1 941.

J. MEYER ENGINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 35 4'8 Jo I 6/ \\\%(&\\

INVENTOR, 1 Meyer x ATTORNEY.

April 15, 1941.

A. J. MEYER Filed Nov. 50, 1938 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR. Met er ATTORNEY.

atented Apr. 15, 1941 UNITED vsm'rlas PATENT OFFICE ENGINE Andre J. Meyer, Lexington, Ky., asslgnor, by mesne assignments, to Continental Aviation and Engineering Corporation, a corporation of Virginia Application November 30, 1938, Serial No. 243,066

. 3 Claims. My invention relates to engines and more particularly to radial sleeve valve engines of the adequately supported to minimize manufacturing and maintenance costs.

v Another object of this invention is to accomplish thedesired result by providing an improved radial engine sleeve drive assembly embodying a planetary gear assembly for transmitting power to the sleeve cranks from the engine crankshaft, and including a construction employing alternately arranged long and short sleeve crank actuating shafts.

Further objects of the present invention reside in various details of construction involving the assembly and proportionlng of the various co-operating elements embodied in said improved construction.

The present application is an improvement over the assignees prior Patent No. 2,015,826 issued on October 1, 1935 to Edward T. Vincent for Engine, the present invention carrying out the principle disclosed in said patent, but including additions and improvements which make it possible to actuate the sleeve valves of an air cooled multi-cylinder double bank sleeve valve engine particularly constructed for aeronautical application.

For a more detailed understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments of the invention, and in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal plan section view of a sleeve valve engine of the opposed cylinder type,

and showing long and short sleeve crank actuatr ing shafts,

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view, somewhat diagrammatic of adouble bank radial engine incorporating a sleeve drive of substantially the same general design,

Fig. 3 is a front elevational diagrammatic view the engine illustrated in Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a longitudinal fragmentary sectional view of the radial type engine, and illustrating a preferred construction of sleeve driving mechanism, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail elevational view showing the sleeve driving mechanism.

With reference to Fig. 1 illustrating one embodiment of the invention, there is provided an engine structure A comprising a crankcase HI and opposed cylinders ll, said cylinders preferably having axes offset with respect to each other. The cylinders are each provided with intake and exhaust ports l2 and t3, the valvinE functions of the engine being controlled by any suitable valve means, which in the present embodiment of the invention comprise an associated sleeve valve M having intake and exhaust ports l5 and I6 respectively cooperating with the cylinder intake and exhaust ports i2 and I3. The outer open end of the cylinders are each preferably closed by a cylinder head structure ll having a re-entrant head portion [8 depending within the cylinder and spaced from the walls thereof to provide a sleeve pocket for accom-V modating an upper or outer portion of the sleeve valve means. Said cylinder head structures are each provided with a combustion chamber la and preferably have associated therewith some suitable form of fuel injection and atomizing device 20 including an atomizing nozzle 2! adapted for spraying a combustible fuel into the combustion chamber l9.

Though the invention is illustrated asbelng incorporated with a sleeve valve engine of the compression ignition type it will'be understood that the invention may be embodied in engines other than those of the compression ignition type and other than the two-stroke cycle engine'herein illustrated. A sleeve valve engine lends itself quite readily to an engine incorporating "the invention and it has been chosen for purposes of illustration to provide a sleeve valve means comprising a single sleeve valve of the Burt McCollum type which is given a combined reciprocating and os- -'driving cranks 24 and 24' each associated with the gearing for driving said sleeve actuating cranks being preferably housed within said gear case. The crankshaft is provided with crank portions 28 spaced axially of the shaft and adapt- .ed for operative connection with the pistons 29 by the associated connecting rods 36.

The engine, herein illustrated is preferably operated on the two stroke cycle, the air being in-- troduced through the cooperating cylinder and intake ports l2 and I5 when the piston is at or near bottom dead center, the air being compressed during the outward stroke of the piston, the atomized fuel being sprayed into the engine in the usual manner and ignited when sprayed into contact with the compressed air.

It will be noted that the gearing 23 includes a common drive gear 23a driven by the crank shaft, and the sleeve crank gears 24a driven by the drive gear 23a and secured respectively to the cranks 24 and 24'. The sleeve crank actu-' ating shaft 24 is longer than the sleeve crank actuating shaft 24', these shafts 24 and 24 respectively driving the sleeve cranks ahd thus the sleeves operating in the engine cylinders located remote and close by the sleeve driving gearing 23. The sleeve crank actuating shaft 24 is supported in spaced bearings 3| and .32 carried by the crankcase l0, while sleeve crank actuating shaft.

stantially shown and described the above men-" tioned prior Patent No. 2,015,826, and the structure illustrated in Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive is an improvement over this prior construction. The improved structure is applied more particularly to a double bank radial air-cooled sleeve valve engine.

The engine illustrated in Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive comprises a crank case 35, one bank of .cylinders 36 preferably seven ('1) in number located closely adjacent to the gear housing 31 and a second bank of cylinders 38 located or positioned more remote from said gear housing 31. In Fig. 2, the axial plane of cylinders 36 is designated 39 and the axial plane of cylinders 38 is designated 49, these two planes being oflset axially of the engine crankshaft 4| as clearly illustrated in .Figs. 2 and 4. Fig. 3 illustrates diagrammatically how the cylinders 36 are arranged in staggered relation with respect to the cylinders 38.

The gear case 31 is secured by bolts 42 or other suitable securing means to the crankcase 35 and is arranged to house the sleeve valve drive gear mechanism 43, hereafter described in more detail. -A bearing wall or partition 44 is secured to the crankcase and carries bearings 45 for supporting each of the sleeve crank actuating shafts 46 and 41, each of which carries the crank gear 48, said shafts 46 and" carrying sleeve cranks 46a and 41a respectively. The sleeve crank actuating shafts 41 are constructed relatively shorter than the sleeve crank actuating shafts 46, said shafts 41 being connected with the sleeve valves in cylinders 36 while the shafts rangement is such as to provide a long shaft between each short shaft. These long shafts 46 are positioned to extend into the crankcase 35 within the V-s-haped area lying between each pair of adjacent cylinders 36 (see Figs. 3 and 4) and are so positioned as to clear the crank 4|a associated with cylinders 46, the connecting rods 53 ,connecting crank 4|a with the pistons 54 in cylinders 36. Said sleeve crank actuating shafts 46 are also positioned to clear all moving mechanism associated with cylinders 36 as will be apparent from the drawings. The crankcase 35 also provided with inwardly extending brackets or ears 55 arranged to carry bearings 56 for supporting the sleeve crank actuating shafts 46, and it will be noted that these ears are substantially in the axial plane 39 of said cylinders 36.

The shafts 46 are each connected with sleeves 51 associated with cylinders 88 by means of the sleeve cranks 46a, while the shafts 41 are each operatively connected with the sleeve valves 58 associated with the cylinders 36 by means of the sleeve cranks 41a. The crankcase also carries crankshaft bearings 59 and this crankshaft also carries a crank portion 60 connected with pistons 6| in said cylinders 38 by means of connecting rods 62 (see Fig. 4).

The sleeve driving ear mechanism 43 comprises a planetary gear system illustrated in de-. tail in Fig. 5, parts thereof being broken away to illustrate the whole assembly more clearly.

The sleeve drive gears 46 mesh with an external ring gear 60, which in turn supports the stub shafts 6| which are preferably four (4) in number and two of which rotatably support the planetary gears 62. These planetary gears mesh with the internal ring gear 63 which is secured by rivets 64 or other suitable securing devioes to the partition or wall 44. The internal ring gear is thus fixed relatively to the other moving parts or elements of the system. The four planetary gears are carried by a carrier or plate 65 rotatably supported on a bearing 66 carried on the hub 61 of the crankshaft driving gear 68. This crankshaft driving gear 68 meshes with gears 69, which are each rotatably supported by the stubshaft 6|, these two planetary gears 62 being preferably integrally formed with gears 69 (see Figs. 4 and 5).

In the operation of the sleeve drive gear mechanism, the crankshaft 4| is arranged to drive the crankshaft drive gear 66 by means of the spline connection connecting same, these gears 69 rotating gear 63 which is fixed to the crankcase, and thus theplate 65 is caused to rotate as shown by arrow 69 (see Fig. 5).- Thus the external ring gear 66' is caused to rotate because of its connection with the plate 63, and rotation of this external ring gear 66 rotates the sleeve driving gears 46. The arrow 16 indicates the direction of rotation of the crankshaft 4| and the crankshaft driving'gear 61. Gears 69 and 62 rotate as .per arrow 1|, the plate 65 rotating about the crankshaft as per arrow 69 which obviously carries the external ring gear 68 to rotate as per arrow 1| thus actuating the sleeve gears 48 in a direction as indicated by arrows 12.

It will thus be seen that the present construction provides a very compact radial sleeve valve engine, embodying a double bank of radially arranged cylinders, which construction provides for a maximum of power with a minimum of weight. both the manufacturing and maintenance costs are held to a minimum. Although I have illustrated but one form of my invention and have described in detail but a single application thereof, it will be apparent to' those skilled in the art to which my invention pertains that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention or from the scope of the appendedclaims.

I claims 1. In a sleeve drive mechanism for a radial sleeve valve internal combustion engine including a crankcase, a crankshaft supported by said crankcase, a plurality of cylinders radially disposed about the crankshaft, sleeve valve means operable in each of said cylinders for controlling the engine cyclical events, sleeve drive cranks one for each of said sleeve valve means, a common drive element. for said sleeve drive cranks, and means for drivingly connecting said common drive element with said crankshaft, including a planetary intermediate driving mechanism.

2. In a sleeve drive mechanism for a radial sleeve valve internal combustion engine including a crankcase, a crankshaft supported by said crankcase, a plurality of cylinders radially dis- The parts are readily accessible and.

posed about the crankshaft, sleevevalvemeans operable in each of said cylinders for controlling the engine cyclical events, sleeve drive cranks one for each of said sleeve valve means, a common drive element for said sleeve drive cranks, and

means for drivingly connecting said common drive element with said crankshaft including a planetary element directly connected with said common drive element and planetary gearing driving said planetary element from said crankshaft.

3. In a sleeve drive mechanism for a radial sleeve valve internal combustion engine including a crankcase, a crankshaft supported by said crankcase, a plurality of cylinders radially disposed about the crankshaft,'sleeve valve means operable in each of said cylinders for controlling the engine cyclical events, sleeve drive cranks one for each of said sleeve valve means, a common drive element for said sleeve drive cranks and comprising an external ring gear, and means for ANDRE J. MEYER. 

